Regina Pats captain Sam Steel celebrated his 20th birthday in style, but the Prince Albert Raiders almost spoiled the party.

Prince Albert erased a 4-1 deficit by scoring three times in the last 7:30 of the third period, ultimately forcing overtime on Kody McDonald’s goal with 38 seconds left in regulation.

Fortunately for the Pats, Steel & Co. had the last word.

With a shootout looming, the 19-year-old centre made a great play to set up Cameron Hebig with 46.5 seconds left in OT, salvaging a 5-4 victory.

A wrap-around goal by Sam Steel, 23, helped the Regina Pats assume a 4-1 lead over the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday. But then the Pats collapsed and needed overtime to pull out a victory that had earlier seemed inevitable.Brandon Harder /
Regina Leader-Post

That put the finishing touch on a four-point night for the birthday boy (two goals, two assists), but his first-star effort was just icing on the cake.

“It’s great to get a win; it’s a big one on the 20th,” Steel said with a smile as 6,484 fans exited the sold-out Brandt Centre. “(It was a) terrible third but we got the two points and we’ll learn from it.”

John Paddock had hoped such a lesson wouldn’t be required.

The Pats’ head coach/GM was encouraged by a promising effort through two periods as his team opened up a three-goal lead that could have been much larger if not for a handful of brilliant saves by Raiders goalie Ian Scott.

Instead, Paddock was left with a bitter taste in his mouth after the Pats failed to keep the pedal to the metal in the third.

“It’s very, very discouraging — very, very disappointing,” Paddock said after his club (27-22-5-0) took a six-point lead over the Raiders (21-20-9-2) in the race for the Eastern Conference’s top wildcard playoff spot.

“It doesn’t feel quite as simple as taking your foot off the gas. We played probably our best two periods of the year as far as hard (hockey). (The second) was probably our most complete period. Then we came out and basically every player from top to bottom crapped the bed.”

The Raiders did their part too, embracing the role of party poopers.

Regina’s only option was to clean up the mess.

“When they tied it up, we knew: ‘It’s enough talk.’ We needed to get it done,” offered Steel. “We knew we couldn’t lose that game. We came out in overtime and I thought we controlled a lot of the play, showed some good effort. Cam came up big at the end and finished it off.”

It started with a key play from Steel, who forced a turnover just inside Prince Albert’s blue-line. Hebig grabbed the puck and sent a cross-ice pass back to Steel, creating a 2-on-1. He patiently stickhandled toward the net and — just as it looked like he would pull the trigger — Steel delivered a return feed to Hebig, who lifted it past the outstretched right pad of Scott.

“I was trying to get somebody to bite,” explained Steel. “It seemed like the goalie was challenging on me so I don’t know if I had a whole lot of net. I was thinking about maybe going around him but Cam was there and I fed him. He does what he does. He puts it in the back of the net.”

Hebig finished with one goal and two assists to complement Steel’s four-point effort.

It was their sixth game since joining forces on Regina’s No. 1 line.

“We’re just building toward playoffs, trying to peak at the right time,” noted Steel. “I’ve found some good chemistry with Cam so hopefully we can keep it going.”

Although the early dividends are promising, Paddock sees plenty of room for improvement. His biggest issue — the game-winning goal aside — is their ongoing tendency to make too many plays instead of shooting from prime scoring areas.

“(Steel’s) problem is overhandling the puck and his problem — like the third period — is turning it over,” added Paddock. “That’s not really even chemistry. That’s just his decision to (not) move it quick. When him and Cam figure out that they have to score goals … they’re going to be pretty hard to stop. But if they want to dust the puck off and if they don’t want to shoot they’re not going to have success.”

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